Presented by Dr. María Cioè-Peña and facilitated by Jen Newton, PhD and Sheresa Boone Blanchard, PhD
About Dr. María Cioè-Peña
María Cioè-Peña is a bilingual/biliterate education researcher and educator who examines the intersections of disability, language, school–parent partnerships, and education policy. Taking a sociolinguistic approach and stance, she pushes and reimagines the boundaries of inclusive spaces for minoritized children. Stemming from her experiences as a former bilingual special education teacher, Dr. Cioè-Peña’s research focuses on bilingual children with dis/abilities, their families, and their ability to access multilingual and inclusive learning spaces within public schools. Her interests are deeply rooted in political economy, raciolinguistic perspectives and critical dis/ability awareness within schools and families.
Dr. Cioè-Peña’s scholarship has won awards from major organizations in the field of bilingual education; first-place winner for Outstanding Dissertation by the National Association for Bilingual Education (NABE) in 2019, and third place winner for Outstanding Dissertation by AERA's Bilingual Education Research SIG in 2020. In 2022, her article “Wanting to Leave; Needing to Stay: Issues for undocumented mothers of children with disabilities” received the Inaugural Outstanding Publication Award from the Council For Exceptional Children's Division for Culturally & Linguistically Diverse Exceptional Learners. She was also awarded the Early Career Award by AERA's Bilingual Education Research SIG in 2022. Prior to arriving at Penn GSE, María was an assistant professor and a Community-Engaged Teaching Fellow at Montclair State University. Her book, (M)othering Labeled Children: Bilingualism and Disability in the Lives of Latinx Mothers, was released May 2021 by Multilingual Matters.